FEATURED: Project Management Entry and Industry Differences

What are good ways to get into project management as a career, and how does it differ across industries?
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This is an open discussion, so please lend your thoughts to the topic and respond to others!
A great response might be to identify which industry you are in, and what your career path has been. From that we can start comparing and contrasting.
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I'll kick this discussion off with my own experience. Please share yours!!!
I've actually been a PM in several different industries and have had different career paths into PM for those industries.
When I worked for a PC manufacturer, I came from a technical support background, into training for a few years, and then into management and project management. There were also a few projects I managed while in the training department. Because it was a small group there was less formality and it was easy to volunteer to lead various projects.
In telecommunications, I was a general manager so my primary role was people and business management, but it was also a startup company and so there were lots of projects for me to manage during the process of standing up a call and dispatch center from scratch. A startup company is a great place to be able to manage projects, and I found great mentors there as well because everyone was so motivated. That entrepreneurial spirit was wonderful!
When I transitioned to financial services, I took a deliberate step back into technology so I could be part of a project team. As a database developer and general software development guy, I was able to learn the industry and then slowly started managing projects where I was also a developer, then moving more purely into a project management role.
Finally when I wanted to move into the aerospace industry I knew I would again have to take a "step down" to learn the industry and gain a foundation in this type of project before I would be ready to manage. So I took a role as a project coordinator where I assisted with project documentation and artifacts, improved project management processes, etc. This was a very large project and I was used to small projects. There were 6 PM's on my contract alone! I referred to myself as someone who "greased the wheels" of the project and made sure everything was running smoothly. At the same time I spent a lot of unpaid time reading and learning as much as I could about the engineering and science aspects of the project.
Eventually the opportunity came about for me to get promoted to a project analyst, and then later I took over the Planning & Controls project management role. Sometime later I was hired into the Lead project manager role for my contract.
Josh Nankivel

Well I am definitely an accidental project manager! I started my career as a computer programmer. One day I was tapped on the shoulder to lead an effort. It was a project. Of course I did not know that at the time. So all of a sudden I was an IT Project Manager. Then I worked to get the formal training I needed to really be a project manager.
This is a theme I still see in IT. Many people still become project managers the accidental way! But I also see this path occurring as well:
Express interest in project management
Ask for a lead role on part of the project or on a small project or work as a project coordinator or project assistant
Pursue pm training while you do this
You must do well on your initial attempts
Then you will be asked to take on more and more responsibility and to run more projects at a time
It always helps that you ave come from IT, it gives your team a comfort level that at least you are capabale of understanding their world.
That's my first reply or my first two cents that just stretched into a dollar.
Thanks everyone.
r

Thanks Margaret! One thing I struggled with coming from a technical background: in some cases I was the expert in the technology we were using, so I would take over sometimes without even really realizing it.
If you come from a technical background, be aware of this and force yourself to delegate the technical leadership to your team. Empower them even if you're itching to take the lead from a technical perspective. When I had my "aha" moment about this, it was a game changer for my PM career!!!

I fell into Project Management similar to Margaret. My career started out in Corporate Retail. My first role was in Human Resources Management recruiting. I recruited for a variety of positions - IT, Finance, HR, etc - which gave me a good business foundation. Eventually I spent more time on special HRIS projects. I was recruited for a large organizational effort underway to develop common retail systems amogst multiple retail formats. As they say the rest is history.

I joined a graduate scheme after leaving University. This scheme was geared at general managers and offered the opportunity to move around the firm. The firm was one of the largest in the Gas and Electicity providers in the UK -so granted me great exposure across service delivery, legal , customer comms and finance.
In the beginning I project managed the launch of a engineering test trial. This was to improve the fix rates of engineers the first time they visited a client. I had a great manager during this role and he really helped me develop a project plan from scratch. He also mentored me in how to manage senior members of my team. It was a great role and really inspired me to step into PM.
I landed an international role after this in the States and worked in Houston Texas on launching the first ever Intranet site for our Legal team. It was a dream role and I came away from it with experience above alot of my peers who had started out on the same scheme as me.
After this my career took bit of a turn into financial support and I ended up managing a body of project managers. I have to say it was a swim or sink situtation and must say as I was still learning -I was a little out of depths when it came to this role with -little or no guidance. It did help strengthen my financial understanding of projects though!
From here I landed a dream role as a Project lead for a huge cross company communications project. But I believe again as someone who had only two years experience in PM-I had a lot to learn. I am still learning and with redundancies sweeping the team I was part of -I was made redundant from this role. I have to say I was majorly gutted -but knew I still had a lot to learn -and so am using this time between jobs to find - my true calling -which with every other day seems to be more and more geared towards Project Management. I am studying to get my Prince 2-which is more highly recognised that PMP in the UK Market while simultaneously applying for jobs.
All the above experience was in the Energy market -hope it helps demostrate that if you are really motivated -keep trying hard and luck will find you.

Thanks! Are there any specific insights or comparisons you could make between your experiences in the UK versus the USA, and between the different industries you've worked in? What does it take, in your experience, to start as a new project manager in these various scenarios?

I began mi carreer developing web sites for small enterprises. Analyzing, Developing and testing.
After a few years I got into a multinational company and started doing different tasks some programming, some requirement analysis, some help desk and ended doing analysis tasks and leading the different projects development.
Now I'm working in an internet company coordinating tasks between the different areas of the company (Development, Testing, Infrastructure). I'm not involved in budget issues or staff definition because the company size doesn't need to. My boss takes care of that issues.
I'm not certified yet. It's a money problem and I think the company does not need a certified PMP in my position.

I started out training clients on our software and then evolved into managing the entire implementation. It was a great way to get started. I learned the product, how to manage clients and the implementation process when working closely with the Project Manager.

@Veronica thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed going into projects from a training perspective while at Gateway too, the visibility and trust I already had built up with everyone really helped.
What do you think was the toughest part of coming at it from a training background, as opposed to a general management or strictly technical background?
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Thanks @Gabriel, what do you think your next step is going to be towards becoming a project manager, if that's your goal? Are there opportunities for you to take or gain exposure to budgeting and staffing pieces or other project management activities that aren't currently a part of your job?
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This discussion is part of Toolbox for IT's new Featured Discussion program, which offers open-ended discussion group conversations that enable participants to engage around issues that are slightly broader than traditional group message topics.
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Well @Josh, the next step for me is to get my PMP certification I guess. I don't know if there are opportunities here to get involved in other PM activities, I'll check that with my boss. My mid-term goal is to work abroad, I'd like to get some international experience both as a professional and as an individual.

Really Josh , for me it was a different story, 30 years ago the beginning was at Kuwait as an accountant then promoted to financial controller with several constructions and contracting companies.
Ten years of experience in this industry exposed me to different business aspects such as: procurement, communication, cost, time, Etc?
From the procurement perspective I was responsible to review contract documentation, vendor proposals and to negotiate terms of payments and other contract terms and condition with both the contractors and internal engineers. So I worked as a procurement coordinator but without knowing that at that time.
From the communication and cost perspective I was also responsible to submit reports regarding project expenses and revenues, I used to grab these figures from the accounting records and certificate of payments.
At early 80?s amazing machine called XT personal computer was introduced to the market, I had the opportunity to be among the first discoverers of that wonderful machine. Before getting to know any thing about computers I bought one, it was useless without knowing how to operate it, and all PC at that time were designed to run on DOS. And without knowing the right DOS commands it turns to be impossible to get benefit out of it , and you will end up having a case and monitor for image purpose.
Extensive courses in disk operating system and other software application such as LOTUS 123 , WordPerfect ,and databases were enabled me to get started with exploring this amazing world.
The transition from the manual accounting system to automated system was done using LOTUS 123 at mid of the 80?s, followed by other salaries and personal systems, but this time using dbase.
These were among first projects I developed fully starting from collect requirements through design, development, and finally implementation and training. But again without knowing it was projects.
Near the end of 80?s, I was introduced to a schedule software called Primavera, this tool was really constituted the first step to me in understanding time management. Little time passed before getting acquainted with it and before start using it to produced some activities and linking them together in specific sequence (project schedule network diagram), then developing from that the initial project schedule.
I start realizing the benefits of project management practices after a brief period of time while we were very close toward completion of sales and inventory system developed to external customer whose requirements was not met and not satisfied. It took the development team extra longer time to align the system with the customer requirements. That, we end up fixing the mess we caused by our ignorance of the proper practices of projects handling.
In 1993 I guided a development team to develop DOS based accounting application for commercial use using FoxPro 2.0, which was really a good experience and knowledge, this step followed by development of customizable solutions for various customers, but this time using different operating systems (Windows) and platforms , and implementing structural project management approach rather than code and fix approach.
The new century witnessed rapid space development at all domains, the majority of it was related to IT and Internet, which evolving in dramatic way.
The science of project management is relatively new comparing to other sciences like medicine, physics and astronomy, but this science also evolving rapidly due to necessity and adoption by some organization like PMI.
Some of my Colleagues, who were interested in project management, became PMP?s that stimulated me to think over the issue. I knew from different sources that long and extensive years of experience and knowledge is not enough to be ready to pass the exam, you should be familiar with project management terminology, polices and practices from the PMI perspective to be able to pass.
I reviewed the PMP certificate requirements and started my preparation for the exam.
It took my 240 hour as an effort time distributed over 6 months to announce myself ready to set for the exam. It was not a good approach, it is better to dedicate yourself for one whole month should you have time. But it worked well with me and passed from first attempt.

@Josh: I actually found it most to my advantage. It was easy to work with the technical folks since they were a part of my training process, especially with any new releases or custom development. I think having to take a step back and look at the big picture from beginning to end was a huge change for me. As a trainer, I came in during installation to prep their trainers and also provided support once live, but that was all. When I moved into managing the entire project, I was involved at the very beginning performing the business analysis to handing it over to Client Support and Account Management. I was responsible for the success of the implementation. It definitely was more pressure than showing up training or helping users and leaving, but I liked it. It was a natural fit for me.

Once I became a project manager the 'theme' within my career was IT
projects.
My first experience was within the IT department of a sales and
manufacturing company,
I went briefly to a company who created event ticketing software, then I
went to a finance company (again in IT)
and before I launched as a coach and teacher I was within the IT department
of an aerospace.

So once I became a project manager, the theme was definitely IT and even
though I was not hands on with
the technology aspect of my projects, it seemed to put my team members (and
stakeholders) at ease to know
I had come from a technical background.

Project Management in general can be applied to any industry or domain or
vertical.
Nearly all domains / industries by default would have IS/IT projects hence
being technical (technologically savvy) provides an "obvious" advantage with
these.
Where I see subtleties are between
- projects large and small,
- internal versus external
- time driven vs task driver
- local vs global
etc.

Point being PM methodologies can be applied in most places, but others
factors play a huge part in decision making, planning and execution. That
is something that we all continue to learn and gain experience. Very rarely
have I come across a PM that does well in any and all projects! And that's
ok too. After all we are human - good at something means we also have a "bad
or not so good at something else".

I agree, we can differentiate even further, not just IT but what kind?
Large, small? troubled? Projects with difficult clients? That would make me
say I worked large IT Projects with difficult customers or sponsors
who needed a relationship builder in the lead.